Required Fintech Reading: Sept 29-Oct 3

“For the second consecutive year, the survey found that the industry’s biggest challenge was satisfying the demands of better-informed and less-loyal customers. This challenge is felt most acutely by retail bankers, with 34% citing waning customer loyalty as their biggest challenge.”

“Worldwide, mobile banking is now more popular with bank customers than visiting brick-and-mortar branches. Fifty-seven percent of customers do their banking online on a weekly basis, while nearly one-fourth use mobile banking weekly (up 9 percentage points from 2013). Only 14% visit a bank branch every week. Mobile is completely changing the customer-bank relationship.”

“Look, if you ask me what the definition of banking will be in five to ten years my response will be, ‘pretty much what it is today.’ What I mean by that is, the core services that banking provides aren’t going to change. Money will be deposited, loans will be made, credit will be established, etc. What will change is how we go about these activities. Banking as a verb, as an engagement model, will continue to shift dramatically. New players will continue to encroach on the business model. The point of Moneyball isn’t that the game of baseball changed, it is that the way one strategically approaches and manages the game requires change.”

“PayPal’s success might, therefore, also depend on producing a technology that is markedly easier for consumers to use than a credit or debit card. Right now, paying for something with a phone is often no quicker than paying with a card. PayPal would need to improve on that, but its recent record in setting up easy payments in stores is not strong. And Apple Pay, with its iPhone fingerprint authorization, may catch on quickly, making it harder for PayPal to compete.”